With Goodyear in wings, Mich. track gives ol' man winter the boot

Michigan International Speedway turned loose it's jey dryer to help clear the track for next week's NASCAR tire test by Goodyear.

Crain News Service staff

BROOKLYN, Mich. (April 3 2014) — Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is giving record snow the boot this week as the track prepares for next week’s Goodyear tire test for NASCAR.

More than 80 inches of snow has fallen at MIS, in Brooklyn, this year. And with just a week to go before NASCAR’s fastest track opens its gates for Goodyear on April 8-9, it was time to call in the big guns to melt ice and snow from the pavement.

Track maintenance crews used old-fashioned know-how March 31, enlisting the help of jet dryers to melt snow drifts and sheets of ice on some areas of the racing surface.

The ice was several feet thick in some places, especially in shaded areas of the track.

While temperatures are expected to be warmer this week and next, it was important to get a jump on melting the ice before cars test.

The jet dryer was first used in the early-70s to melt snow at MIS. It evolved to eventually be the primary means NASCAR used to dry racetracks after rain-delays. Today, jet dryers have been replaced by NASCAR’s innovative Air Titan technology.

MIS President Roger Curtis said he expects all the snow and ice will be gone by next week.

____________________________________________

This report appeared on autoweek.com, the website of Autoweek magazine, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.